Egypt – Feb. 4

“The protests the last couple of days have been escalating. They have gone from anti-Mubarak to the pro-M and anti-M factions fighting each other. Very nasty Wed. night. 5-10 killed, 800-1500 injured, depending on who is reporting numbers. Today should be interesting. Both factions are gathering after Friday prayers. The government and army are asking people to stay home.

Each side blames the other for the violence. The new VP is saying the fired Minister of Police is to blame. They are looking for him and have frozen all his bank accounts. The focus of the protests has changed. Now they want Mubarak to leave the country. That’s what today is all about. Watched an interview with the new VP yesterday. He said the government is accepting all the demands of the protesters but Mubarak stays in Egypt. He’s asking for time to implement new changes.

People are getting tired of the protests. Facebook comments are increasing asking for a return to normalcy and to give the new gov time to act.

The news coverage here is all over the place. The gov run TV shows very little violence. Al Jezeera is pro-protesters. They are very biased, so much so we seldom watch them anymore. EuroNews, CNN International and non-gov controlled local stations seem pretty fair.

I want to reiterate again that we are in no danger. Plenty of food, gas and water. No shortages here where we’re staying. It is good to have my son-in-law Enal taking us around. He keeps us out of the dangerous areas.

As you probably have seen [photos did not get transmitted] we went to the Pyramids, kind of, yesterday. Couldn’t get in; we stopped at a fence with the best view. You can see how far away we were. The banks are reopening Sunday so we’re hoping they open the tourist sites soon.

It is disheartening seeing how the poor live here. We got out of the car and we’re surrounded by 3 camels, 4 horses and a horse drawn cart. There we’re 4-5 other people who showed up. They all wanted to sell us something. Cost me 100 pounds (about $6) for a few pictures, couple of pyramid souvenirs and some postcards. These people really need these sites reopened.

The other picture is of the Nile River.

Gotta go now. We’re off exploring again.

John

P.S. Been checking flights out of here. Hopefully Delta will put us on KLM. Otherwise there are lots of flights available. Hopefully, should be no problem leaving.”